Sorry and thank you
by Misila
Summary: There were some human concepts Haruka had yet to completely understand. [Future fic AU]


Prompt: surprised kiss.

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 _ **Sorry and thank you**_

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It was the longest day of the year.

The tide was ebbing, the sun high on the sky. A young half-fish man was trapped in a cave hidden under a cliff, swimming in increasingly frustrated circles as the water level kept decreasing. He knew stressing himself out would only consume what little oxygen was left in the water faster, but he would rather suffocate than dry up in the summer heat and become sea foam afterwards.

He knew he had to act quickly; it was bad enough that he had gotten too distracted to notice the water level had lowered almost the length of his tail, showing the path of sharp rocks hidden beneath. The pond he was in was starting to look more like a puddle with each passing moment.

He rose his head above the surface, focused on the cave entrance. As soon as he reached it he would be able to drop himself right into the sea, but there was a not very friendly way twice as long as his entire body until there.

He supposed slicing his body open was worth continuing to live.

Trying to keep calm, he descended to the bottom of the pond –which wasn't too far from the surface–, gathered momentum and propelled himself out of the water, as far as he could.

He made almost half the way, actually landing further than he had anticipated.

A shriek abandoned his lips when he fell on what felt like thousands of shark teeth, gritting his own as blood pooled beneath him. He didn't think the wounds were deep –or at least he hoped so–, but the opercula at the sides of his head, behind his jaw, kept opening and closing quickly, the oxygen in the air useless for his gills.

He forced himself to not give any thought to the fact that he was dying. The sea was right there; he only had to drag himself a bit longer. Trying to focus on that instead of the worsening cuts of his torso and tail, he gritted his teeth and started crawling towards the entrance.

But it was too far and he felt too dizzy.

He guessed he was dead when all he could see was white, when his opercula stopped moving altogether, closed and unable to open again. When he couldn't hold his head up any longer and he didn't even feel the sharp bite of the rocks sinking into his face.

The day was hot, but the odd warmth that enveloped him wasn't bad; actually, he liked it until it dawned on him that it was Death eating away at him, melting him into sea foam.

He flapped his tail with what little strength was left in him, desperate, but the fatal grip didn't loosen a bit. He thought he heard a familiar voice and almost snorted, but just then he sank into something gloriously cool; all of a sudden his opercula opened, welcoming oxygenated water.

He needed a moment to be able to move, to blink and look around and recognising the underwater wall of the cliff, his surroundings darker than usual due to the blood flowing out his wounds. He cautiously took a peek at himself, relieved when he confirmed the cuts weren't serious.

Then he looked up, a heavy knot twisting his stomach when he realised what had just happened.

Had another human found out about him?

He bit his lower lip with two rows of teeth, but he knew he would have to surface sooner or later and face the consequences of his acts; he only hoped his people didn't find out he had given in to the worst sin for his species. Ignoring the stinging in his tail, he breached to meet the person who might be both his saviour and the cause of his death.

He was met with wide, crimson eyes, framed by hair that had always looked like red algae to Haruka. At first Rin only stared at him, bewildered, and even though he was kneeling on the rocks for a second it seemed he was going to fall into the water; but then he seemed to decide to let everything he hadn't said for the last week out in one minute.

And Haruka supposed he should try to understand him –because even Rin though had taught that human language to him almost six years ago it was still hard–, supposed he was curious about Rin's pale face; but he was just happy it was Rin, and not a nosy, indiscreet human, who had helped him.

Not that Rin wasn't nosy or indiscreet.

"…out of the water, trying to chop yourself in slices in that cave, ¡and look at my uniform!" Rin cried out. Effectively, his clothes –which only policemen, whatever that meant, wore– were stained with Haruka's blood. Suddenly he felt bad for trying to resist what he had mistook for Death's arms.

"Stop yelling or even dead whales will hear you," he muttered.

Rin fell silent, but Haruka supposed it was just because he was thinking about something else to say.

"Did you get carried away sunbathing or something?" he eventually asked.

Haruka shook his head, sinking briefly to breathe.

He didn't expect the firm hold on his shoulder. When he resurfaced, he found Rin's hand grabbing him so hard his pale skin was reddening.

"Rin. Let go."

Rin looked away, strangely ashamed. "I thought you'd leave…"

Haruka took Rin's hand in his, easily forcing it to let go of his shoulder. Even though his entire body hurt with every move of his tail to keep himself afloat, he was way stronger than Rin, than any simple human.

Yet had it not been for Rin, Haruka thought as he intertwined their fingers together, he would be sea foam by now.

"I'm sorry I scared you."

Rin smiled a bit, gaze still fixed on an empty spot above the playful waves.

 _Sorry_ was a word Haruka's mother tongue lacked. Sea people acknowledged when they did something wrong, but there wasn't a specific term to describe the dull pain after hurting a loved one, even if it wasn't on purpose. It had been one of the hardest human concepts for Haruka to grasp.

"It's okay," Rin eventually replied. "Don't your wounds hurt?"

"They aren't serious."

Finally Rin looked at him again. "I didn't ask that."

Haruka returned the smile.

"I know."

Leaning his free hand on the edge of the rock Rin was kneeling on, he rose over the surface, swinging his upper half forward to meet Rin's lips. He could see something close to panic and closer to satisfaction in Rin's widened eyes, could see the tips of his ears reddening. Through their joined hands he could feel his hastened heartbeat, his fingers twitching against his palm.

(As if Haruka were completely unaffected, as if he weren't trying to breathe out of the water.)

"Thank you," he muttered in those soft, fragile lips, falling back into the water as his wounds complained about the effort.

"T–t–that's not what… Humans… _That_ doesn't mean that," Rin stammered.

Haruka shrugged. "Really? I've heard in some underwater tribes it does." He carefully disentangled his hand from Rin. "I have to take care of these," he added, pointing at wounds. "See you soon."

Rin didn't call him. He was still as red as his hair when Haruka sank into the water.

Haruka had lied. He hadn't done that because he thought in some places his people used it to express gratefulness; actually, _thank you_ was one of those words Haruka didn't know how to translate into his mother tongue.

He had kissed Rin because he was well aware the meaning humans gave to it.

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